Neon Lights of Nashville

This weekend was fantastic!! The more I travel, the more I realize how much I truly, truly enjoy experiencing new places. This past weekend in particular, I visited Nashville, TN, and it felt like the little country music mecca of the whole United States {which I happily embraced}. My friend Cary is currently living in Nashville to attend Nursing school at Vanderbilt, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to visit her and a new city all at once!

When I arrived Thursday, we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame downtown. It went through the history of country music up to today, showcasing clothing, guitars, boots, etc. from country singers through the ages. Cary and I were both shocked at how small Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert's dresses are in person! Itty bitty.

We also walked around the city for a bit and stopped by the Ryman Auditorium, which is the home of the Grand Ole Opry. Since 1943 the Ryman has been dubbed the "Mother Church of Country Music." It's also known as the birthplace of Bluegrass on December 8th, 1945 when Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe on the Ryman stage.

We also had to definitely stop by Boot City in downtown Nashville. They had cowboy boots lining shelves throughout the entire store. They have boots of all shapes and colors, from plain jane to intricate designs and colorful combinations. It's hard to step out of there without a pair. Since I already had a pair of authentic boots from Austin, TX, I resisted the temptation to buy another one. They did have a special going on though, and Cary's friend Jenny got 3 pairs for the price of 1! Now that I think back, I'm actually not sure how I resisted that deal...

After exploring the city for a couple days, Jenny met us in Nashville to run the half marathon! On Saturday, Cary, Jenny, and I got up bright and early to head downtown for marathon day. Jenny ran, while Cary and I drank coffee, ate Panera, and cheered her on from the sidelines. We felt completely worthless didn't feel lazy at all watching 30,000 people run 13-26 miles at 7:00 am on a gorgeous Saturday morning while we leisurely walked along beside them.

It was quite a site to see! We were awed by how many people ran past us at the 10 mile mark who looked like they had just been jogging along, like no biggie. I'm jealous of them and their awesome stamina. I really wish I could run like that, but I just don't get that runner's high. Womp womp.

This was Jenny's first half marathon and her goal was to finish...which she did! Yay! Next time, maybe Cary and I will run walk {walk/run maybe} with her. After the race we all went to lunch before crashing for a nap. Cary and I felt it only natural to reward ourselves with a delicious lunch and a cupcake for dessert. After all, we burned tons of calories walking the three miles to meet Jenny at the finish line.

Thank goodness we took a break that afternoon, because that evening we had the Montgomery Gentry concert and we planned on doing some bar-hopping downtown after :) I was in country music heaven. Because it was so crowded downtown we only "hopped" to two bars, but I was okay with it because I had already danced with a cowboy some tall dude in a flannel shirt that talked to every group of girls in the bar, had a few Bud Lights, heard 2 "Chicken Fried" covers, sung along to "I Got Friends in Low Places" twice {and forced a non-country music lover to sing along, ahem, Clint}, and again heard 2 covers of Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane"...then we came home and ate the leftover cupcakes. All in all, perfect way to end my trip to the country music mecca that is Nashville.  

Things I Loved About Nashville:

- The people {I loved being approached by people in the dressing room asking my advice on what they were trying on, that doesn't happen often, and it happened several times to me in Nashville}

- The accents {...we're fixin' to go to the concert}

- The size of the city {it was an exciting place with a great downtown area, but still had that small-town feel}

- The food! {of course}...I'll post more about that, stay tuned!

- Country music EVERYWHERE {no matter what store you were in, it was blasting}

- The bars {Country cover bands in every dive bar in the city, yes please}

- The neon lights outside every single bar {it felt like a mini Times Square}

- The weather was perfection

Another city that I absolutely love. {Add it to the list! Richmond, Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Nashville, and the list goes on...}

Thank you so much Cary for having me! Next up, visiting you in Chicago :)